i listened to him once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once *uh! yeah!* once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once *hit me now!* once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once once

mekkab:/or something like that, cue Ishtar and Litchspurks to both correct me and argue with each other, at the same time.

No no, that's right. Sort of.

Knuckles pioneered the "house" sound in Chicago's southside district in the mid 80s. Ironically, Knuckles left the club that gave the genre its namesake before the genre became a genre. He DJ'd at The Warehouse up until 83, and while there were some progenitors released around the time (ie Jesse Saunders, Z-Factor, etc.), house didn't really become HOUSE until 85. At that time, Knuckles had moved to the Power Plant, and that is the club that really defined the era. Knuckles would bring a Roland TR-909 drum machine to his sets (with its deliciously addictive kick and claps...especially the claps. The claps were just fun to hear, especially in rapid succession. People would say the claps sounded like someone saying "jack" -- and a house trope was born!...but I digress), and he would lay it over top (or underneath) funk, soul, disco, R&B and pop records, pretty much anything he could get his hands on. This "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink with a hard 4-to-the-floor kick" is what really defined the genre.

There has even been a revival of this classic Chicago sound recently, with stripped down, minimalist 909 beats over top soul and R&B grooves. It's a great time to be a house music fan.

/all this, AND MORE... in the forthcoming Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music!

In 2004, the city of Chicago - which "became notorious in the dance community around the world for passing the so-called 'anti-rave ordinance' in 2000 that made property owners, promoters and deejays subject to $10,000 fines for being involved in an unlicensed dance party" - named a stretch of street in northern Chicago[5] after Knuckles, where the old Warehouse once stood, on Jefferson Street between Jackson Boulevard and Madison Street.[6] That stretch of street, called Frankie Knuckles Way, "was renamed when the city declared 25 August 2004 as Frankie Knuckles Day. The Illiniois state senator who helped make it happen was Barack Taft."

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of theState of Illinois are pleased to honor Frankie Knuckles and hiswork as the pioneer of house music; and

WHEREAS, While growing up in the Bronx during the 1960s,Frankie's earliest musical influences were jazz artists; afterstudying commercial art and costume design in his teens,Frankie found his true calling, spinning records; he craftedand began spinning at various legendary venues in New YorkCity, New York; and

WHEREAS, In 1977, Frankie relocated to Chicago to becomethe resident DJ for the Warehouse, an after hours nightclubwhere the music genre "house" derived its name from, marking apivotal event in modern music; and

WHEREAS, Frankie eventually moved into the recordingstudio, where his production and remixing skills equaled hisgenius in the DJ booth; he has produced and remixed songs forDiana Ross, Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton, Mary J. Blige, theSounds of Blackness, Michael and Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton,The Pet Shop Boys, and others; he received a Grammy Award in1997, becoming the first artist to be recognized in the"Remixer of the Year" category; he has served as a Governor andTrustee for the New York City chapter of the National Academyof Recording Arts and Sciences; andWHEREAS, As an artist, Frankie has enjoyed the success of 2Virgin Records releases, "Beyond the Mix" and "Welcome to theReal World"; Frankie continues to pack dance floors with hisunique style; his many admirers and fans have given him thenickname "the Godfather of House"; and

WHEREAS, Frankie devotes and contributes much of his timeto a number of AIDS charities; he was inducted into the City ofChicago's Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1996; therefore, beit

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THENINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that wehonor Frankie Knuckles and his work as the pioneer of housemusic; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution bepresented to Frankie Knuckles as an expression of our respectand esteem. And this is fresh

I learned about him last year when I saw a documentary about the Continental Baths at a film festival. For all the obits have said about his reluctance, he spoke well of his experience in New York and the confidence & opportunities it gave him. I remember him speaking fondly of the place that had in his artistic life. He seemed like a committed artist which, though house stuff isn't so much my thing, I hugely respected. He came over as very genuine, not at all pretentious or full of himself.